I feel like we’re back in this position again, where yet another COD Next has finished showing off the latest Call of Duty instalment with Black Ops 6 and then has the opportunity to dive head first into a limited-time Beta weekend to get hands-on with what hopefully will be more than a year’s worth of gameplay. I was quite frustrated with the previous two installments that being MW2 and MW3 as the one didn’t live up to the original MW2 that came out back in 2009 and MW3 was a glorified DLC pack that again wasn’t worth the time.
It feels like Call of Duty has lost its way in the last few games and I’m praying that Treyarch has worked its magic and can provide us with a shimmer of hope and hopefully a standard of what future Call of Duty games should be.
What’s New
If not the biggest new feature in Black Ops 6 is the improved movement mechanics which is called Omnimovement. This new and improved way of moving in Call of Duty brings a fresh and more realistic take on how you can move on the battlefield. Straight as you get into the Beta you will be able to partake in the Training Course where you will learn the ins and outs of the new system and try to get familiar with it before jumping into the online multiplayer.
I highly recommend getting your bearing with Omnimovement because it is something you’ll have to adapt to, even more so if you have sunk many hours into MW2 and MW3 over the last couple of years.
Another feature that is new and sounds good on paper but will probably end up making loads of funny meme videos online and plenty of trash-talking is the hostage mechanic where you can use a player as a human shield but this will enable proximity chat so you can talk to the player you have hostage. Yeah, I know right, I can’t wait to see all the funny videos that come from this mechanic.
What’s on offer
We got to experience three maps and four modes in the first few days of the Beta but then it opened up to three additional maps and modes as the days went on. The five maps on hand were Babylon, Derelict, Scud, Skyline, and Rewind. My favourites had to be Derelict and Skyline as I felt the map designs were well thought out and gave me the old-style COD feel.
They also looked gorgeous and I loved jumping from the balcony into the swimming pool on Skyline using the new Omnimovement. We didn’t see many game modes but there was the traditional Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hard-Point with Kill Order Face Off Team Deathmatch and Kill Confirmed being integrated after the first few days. There were also three Strike Maps which are your close-quarters maps which were Pit, Gala, and Stakeout, my favourite being Pit.
From the maps I have played it is nice to get some fresh new maps that aren’t remastered or brought back from previous games and I truly feel like the developers have put a lot of thought into the flow of the maps and the way players will interact with them using the new movement system the only thing I would say they need to work on is the spawn points as I feel like these are a bit broken and all over the place.
There is also a level of progression in the Beta, you will be able to reach level 20 which will unlock more weapons and equipment for your load-outs and if you manage to get to level 20 will get an exclusive character skin for one of the operators. Personally, I like the operator skin so within the first two days made it my mission to reach the max level for the beta and flex to the other players.
It was nice seeing that Score Streaks were present, I do like this as I find it easier to get a Score Streak than I do Kill Streaks. It rewards the player for playing the objective and means that you don’t have to worry too much about getting kills but just enjoy playing the game. We also get to see the return of the RC-XD car which I loved in the original game. However, I will say that it has become a bit harder to control but it won’t take me long to master it.
There was a nice number of weapons to try out in Weekend One, my favourites being the C9 Submachine Gun, XM4 Assault Rifle, and the XMG Light Machine Gun. Sniping does feel nice but with every new Call of Duty game, it takes time to get used to the guns and learn how to use them properly
One thing that I’m not happy to see back though is the Gunsmith. I feel like this whole way of building a gun and adding attachments causes a lot of the weapons and attachments to become redundant because people start producing a Meta sort of culture when it comes to the go-to weapons and attachments. It happened with MW2 and MW3 I’m hoping this doesn’t become the case in Black Ops 6 but only time will tell.
Conclusion
From what I have played I can say Black Ops 6 is what I feel has been missing from recent Call of Duty Instalment. It has a development team that actually cares for the franchise and has put the longest development time into a Call of Duty game which just builds confidence with players. The time era the game is set to makes me happy to see what other guns will get put into the game at launch and I am eager to see if we get the return of the Dog Kill Streak.
There was nothing scarier than being on the map and hearing the Dogs being deployed. I’m excited to see what Weekend Two brings and looking forward to continuing the grind to earn the second unlockable skin for the Westpoint operator. If you are able to get into the Beta I highly recommend it as this is what Call of Duty’s online multiplayer should be and you can instantly tell that the developers have been cooking and truly want Black Ops 6 to succeed and rekindle the dying flame that has been the last few Call of Duty instalments.
Call of Duty Black Ops 6 Trailer
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